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Does licensing occupations amount to protectionism?

Those numbers come from Morris Kleiner, a labor economist at the University of Minnesota who has studied occupational licensing for more than 30 years. Kleiner estimates that shifting from licensing to certification could create more than 15,000 jobs in Minnesota. He testified at Gerlach's hearing that occupational licensing laws reduce competition, thereby forcing Minnesota consumers to pay up to $3.6 billion more annually for goods and services and lowering the state's economic growth by up to $1 billion a year.